Review of youth justice system

A former government adviser on school behaviour will head a review of the youth justice system.

Michael Gove has asked Charlie Taylor to review the youth justice system. He was previously asked to examine discipline in the classroom.

He will look at current practice in preventing youth crime and rehabilitating young offenders, as well as explore how the youth justice system can most effectively interact with wider services for children and young people.

The review will not consider the age of criminal responsibility, the way young people are dealt with in the criminal courts or the youth sentencing framework.

“In recent years we have seen a significant and welcome reduction in the number of young people entering the youth justice system. However, little progress has been made in reducing reoffending, with 67% of young people leaving custody reoffending within a year. The time is right to examine our approach to tackling youth offending. We need to consider whether the current system, which was created in 2000, remains able to meet the challenges we face in 2015” said Gove.

Gove said Taylor’s previous experience working with children with severe behavioural difficulties give him a “real understanding of the wider challenges in preventing youth offending”.

Lord McNally, chair of the Youth Justice Board, said the organisation has always felt a strategic review of the youth justice system was necessary because the current system "cannot sustain further piecemeal reductions in funding. We therefore welcome this review, and hope that it will deliver lasting reform of the system as a whole. This is essential to ensure that the impressive successes of the last 15 years are recognised, preserved and resourced, and that real opportunities to deliver meaningful reform are grasped."